Cooper Flagg had 25 points and 12 assists on Sunday night to help the Dallas Mavericks coast for a wire-to-wire 130-93 victory over the visiting Brooklyn Nets.
Kyrie Irving added 21 points and Daniel Gafford chipped in 18 for Dallas, which shot 57.1% from the field in its second straight win. Santi Aldama scored 12 points and Zaccharie Risacher tallied 11 for the Mavericks, who won their fourth in a row against the Nets.
Michael Porter Jr. led Brooklyn with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Nolan Traore followed with 14 points and Julius Randle scored 13. Moritz Wagner came off the bench with 12 points and Josh Minott and Danny Wolf had 10 points apiece for the Nets, who have dropped eight of 10 to begin the season.
After Flagg converted a three-point play to give the Mavericks a 30-21 lead, Porter scored five straight to pull the Nets within four. Flagg then beat the first-quarter buzzer with a 3-pointer to send Dallas into the second with a 33-26 advantage.
Gafford had a pair of three-point plays in the first two minutes of the second quarter to extend the Mavericks’ lead to 44-30.
Wagner’s layup stopped the bleeding for Brooklyn, but Flagg and Naji Marshall’s 3-pointers bookended a 10-0 run that pushed Dallas’ advantage to 54-32.
Randle and Day’Ron Sharpe closed the first half with a basket apiece to pull the Nets within 20. Flagg led all scorers with 20 first-half points, while Porter had 16 before halftime for Brooklyn.
The Mavericks pushed their 20-point halftime lead to 92-62 when Gafford’s dunk and Irving’s layup capped a 12-2 run with 4:26 remaining in the third quarter.
Aldama drilled a 3-pointer and Irving completed a three-point play to give Dallas a 100-71 lead entering the final quarter.
Brooklyn finally found an offensive rhythm midway through the fourth, as Minott hit consecutive triples and Wolf made a reverse layup to account for an 8-0 Nets spurt.
Risacher and Max Christie connected on 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to punctuate the Mavericks’ easy win.
